While the PPP/C Government is expected to review the Local Content Legislation this year, there is no rush to have amendments to the landmark document says Vice President, Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo. The official confirmed this much at a press conference on Thursday. He said the government is taking a studied approach which will consider the performance of the 40 categories of services outlined in the First Schedule of the law for Guyanese services to be used at varying degrees.
The official said, “We have had one year of implementation and we have learned a lot in terms of where we have capacity and where we don’t, the loopholes that some companies are trying to exploit and the means of creative compliance being employed to access some of the benefits designed for our people, so all of this is being assessed.”
Jagdeo said government has had new requests for increasing the existing thresholds in the laws as well as for the inclusion of new areas. “Only after we have zoned into all of this and study it carefully are we going to go with legislative changes. We are not rushing to change the law. We have made a lot of progress and there has been a great amount of compliance but the work ahead requires careful calibration,” the Vice President noted.
The Local Content Law which was passed in December 2021 serves to provide for the implementation of obligations on persons engaged in petroleum operations or related activities in the petroleum sector; prioritizes Guyanese nationals and Guyanese companies in the procurement of goods and services and enables local capacity development.
The First Schedule of the Act ring-fences 40 categories of work for Guyanese participation via the supply of goods and the provision of services which include: food supply, rental of office space, accommodation, insurance, accounting and legal services.
The foregoing categories carry minimum local content levels for which local participation had to be achieved by Contractors, Sub-Contractors, and Licensees.
Ensuring these targets are met is the Local Content Secretariat. The law allows officials attached to that body to have unrestricted access to a contractor, subcontractor or licensee’s facilities, records, reports, documents, data, and information. Such access is allowed for the purposes of monitoring, assessing, evaluating, investigating, auditing, and verifying compliance with the Act.
The law also empowers the Secretariat to develop and maintain measures for the effective implementation of local content by Contractors, Sub-Contractors and licensees.
Since the passage of the law, Guyanese have benefitted from over $700M in works from the oil sector.
